Strategic Initiative Fund (SIF)

Center for Community Environmental Dialogue

By first listening to communities across Michigan, the Center for Community Environmental Dialogue will identify what inspires people from diverse political and socioeconomic backgrounds to support climate, environmental, and energy solutions that reflect their values and benefit their families and communities. The Center for Community Environmental Dialogue uses a "listen-first" approach rather than beginning with prepackaged climate messages, learning how people connect climate change to their everyday concerns, values, and "objects of care" — the people, places, livelihoods, institutions, and community assets they want to protect. The project responds to a moment when climate impacts are accelerating, national climate policy has stalled, and trust in science and higher education is under pressure.

The work will unfold in two major phases. First, the team will conduct surveys with voters in Michigan and nationwide, interviews with labor leaders, and focus groups with Michigan voters, union members, and small business owners to identify the mental models, narratives, barriers, and motivators that shape how Michiganders think about climate change and climate action. Second, the team will use those findings to design and test climate messages, including text and video messages, to determine whether they shift attitudes, behaviors, concern about climate change, and willingness to support collective action.

The resulting strategies will help accelerate the clean energy transition, strengthen trust and civic engagement, and provide a scalable model for advancing durable climate action nationwide. Expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of how Michiganders' values and priorities connect to climate action, evidence-based communication strategies that can scale statewide and nationally, and broader dissemination through conferences, media coverage, local civic conversations, and academic publications.